On the Origin of Daventry
During the production of the games, two simultaneous official explanations for Daventry's existence have been given. Cosmology The series takes place in Earth's past Throughout the production of the games, the authors of the manuals and even the introduction video for KQ6, insisted that the games portrays the legends and history of a European-like kingdom that occurred a long time ago on Earth, when magic and mystical creatures still existed on earth, and that is the reason for references to many earth legendary characters, historical characters, and earth books. Even in material related to KQ8, the game is said to be set a long time ago, and the Gnomes refer to the world as earth. "A long, long time ago, when unicorns still roamed the forests and the merfolk still dwelt in the shallow waters frequented by men, there ruled in the kingdom of Daventry..."-KQ1 manual. "I'm afraid my time on Earth grows short."-Edward, KQ1SCI "A long, long time ago, when creatures of myth and magic walked the earth openly with lesser mortals, there dwelt in the kingdom of Daventry..."-KQ2 Manual "A long, long time ago, when magic was the only science known to man...learned in all matters of the heavens and earth. "-KQ3 manual. "A long time ago, in a kingdom called Daventry, there lived a King named Edward."- KQ Collection 2 manual (KQ4 chapter) "Once, in a kingdom called Daventry...According to legend, shortly after Rosella's rescue King Graham decided it was time to pass on his adventurer's cap..."-KQ4 Manual "Long ago, in the kingdom of Daventry..."-KQ5 Manual "A long time ago, there was a peaceful and prosperous kingdom called Daventry."-King's Quest collection manual (KQ5 section). "A long time ago in the castle of a kingdom called Daventry..."-KQ6 intro. "Long ago, in the kingdom of Daventry..."-KQ6 ("About King's Quest I-V") ''"...face of the Earth...Mother Earth...anywhere on earth"-Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles. "In a time long ago, magic and myth is embodied in every living creature roaming the world. Unicorns graze in forest meadows, wizards concoct mystical spells and kings and queens manage thriving kingdoms."-KQ8 demo/website description "...the place where the earth meets the sun."-Manual, KQ8. "I can shift the earth's magnetic pole just a tad..."-Gnomic Terramancer, KQ8. "Once Upon a Time in a Land Faraway..."-Roberta WilliamsInteraction Magazine, Fall 1992, pg 29 "The chronicles of Daventry are retold, these centuries later, as the tales of King's Quest."-Roberta WilliamsInteraction Magazine, Fall 1992, pg 29. Additionally in the Mask of Eternity, Connor and a parchment refers to the planet Jupiter as well as the constellation Leo, showing that they are part of Daventry's celestial sky. The series takes place in a parallel universe In contrast, Peter Spear, et al, the authors of the King's Quest Companion, insisted that Daventry is located in a parallel universe that exists beyond our senses, and that the citizens of Daventry withdrew from Earth and still communicate with us from there. The events of Daventry appeared to more or less occur simultaneously with last part of 20th century's earth history (although at different rates of time), and the messages would be sent to our world soon after occurring in their world. Peter Spear never gave any specific dates as to when people withdrew, or when the events in the stories took place. In the official timeline the date of the first withdrawal had to have occured at least 10,000 years before Graham's Coronation if not more. Both Theories are True As both sources are official it would imply that both versions have to be true. The only possible scenario that would allow both to be true is if the people of Daventry withdrew from historical earth into earth's ancient past. Their universe would be the same earth, but in the past. In this scenario time is parallel allowing communication between people from the past and future. This would also explain why the the planet is called earth. Such as the manuals, gnomes and even the ocassional human referring to the world as earth. This might be similar to a hypothesis given in the novel, Micheal Chrichton's Timeline. He stated that in the quantum mechanics of time travel, travelers don't actually travel back in time but rather they slide over into a parallel dimension... As described in the book it is similar to how every loop on a coil of a spring is parallel to every other loop on the coil but still connected to each other from one end to the other. So the term time travel is a misnomer as the person isn't actually traveling back in time but rather crosses over to time that is parallel to other points in time. Even though the time traveler exists in a parallel dimension one can still partially influence the future by the actions committed in the past because time moves forward it will eventually catch up with his original dimension as the coil of time winds up to his original point in time. Alternative views In the various editions of King's Quest Companion, Peter Spear argues that the letters he receives from Derek, represent the real universe of Daventry as opposed to the "programmed world", the "computer games". I.E. Roberta was inspired and wrote a work of fiction & series of games based on her dreams of the universe. The implications of this are that games such as the remake of King's Quest 1 and elements of King's Quest VII may not actually represent the "true" history of Daventry as told by Derek Karlavaegen, but are Roberta's personal interpretations, retellings, and modifications. For example the original KQ1 is considered closer to the "truth", the remake is treated to be Roberta's interactive "fiction" inspired by the "true events". In addition KQ7 may not be a "true story" at all, although it might have become truth due to Roberta's influence on the world through her dreams. Thus the 'truth' might be that Daventry maybe in a parallel world, but Roberta interpreted it to be part of our world as part of her 'creative design' choice in telling the story rather than being the "real" story (as given to Peter Spear). In this sense the games are simply games in our world written by various designers, putting in their own interpretations, rather than being authentic primary sources. Similar to how a movie director may change the events of a story for dramatic effect. Though it is said over time Roberta gained some kind of power to reshape Daventry as her dreams became stronger (and thus KQ7 could represent her changing Daventry's reality). Some fans have have interpreted 'long ago' as not referring to Earth, but rather, 'long ago in Daventry'. In the sense that the events of the games concern the past of the world of Daventry being told from some distant "present" on the world or in a sense "future" beyond the events of the games. In this theory, the dialogue from manuals, and KQ6 intro came from historians in Daventry's present/future when technology had taken over, and magic no longer exists. However from Companion's perspective the "present" goes as far as the events of King's Quest 7 (occuring parallel to Earth's "present", c. 1980's to 1990's) rather than some future point. Also, some view the references to 'earth' in dialogues and text, as a 'translation' which means generally the World (of Daventry), without referring to our planet. On the other hand none of these explanations truly incorporates Connor's reference to the planet Jupiter, or the Jupiter Parchment's reference to the constellation Leo, and their connection to the Celestial Globe, which is intended to represent the stars and planets seen by the people of Daventry in the night skies. Sources Peter Spear and the game designers gave competing ideas throughout the production of the series (up to King's Quest: Mask of Eternity and King's Quest bundle collections) and the the last edition of the King's Quest Companion (up to KQ7). The interesting thing of note is that much of the material from the manuals and the companion were created from notes & design documents from Roberta Williams, though she did not necessarily have a hand in directly writing any of the material. Jane Jensen, Lorelei Shannon, and Mark Seibert had a big hand in some of the later games in the series. Its hard to say which is Roberta's personal view since she has literally supported both. However, she had supported the idea that Daventry is part of "Earth's past history" in a few interviews around the time of Mask of Eternity. Mask of Eternity's material never comments on when it specifically takes place, but references to "long, time ago" exist in the some of the related material (the now defunct website), and references to earth exist in the Realm of the Gnomes. As well as reference to the planet Jupiter and the constellation Leo. category:King's Quest Games Category:Facts Category:fiction